Tiffany & Co. Now Open on the Dream

On Saturday, June 15, a Tiffany & Co. store opened on the Dream.  I thought this addition would wait until the (unconfirmed but probably happening) dry dock next year, but life is full of surprises.  This new addition is in the exact same spot as the one on the Fantasy, which takes over where the Vista Gallery was, on deck 4.  The Gallery is now on deck 2, outside of Enchanted Garden.

The previous location of the Vista Gallery

The new location of the Vista Gallery, near Enchanted Garden

The Dream's deck plans on the DCL website have and haven't been updated.  It shows the new Vista Gallery and the old one.  Well, I guess there's two galleries now.

As far as I know, Tiffany's was the only change made.  I'll be on the Dream in August to investigate.

The Wonder's September Dry Dock

Well, this is surprising.  I was wandering the internet, and I found this Disney Parks Blog post.  Forget about the Dream's dry dock, this one is scheduled for September of this year.  It won't be as major as the Wonder's dry dock a few years ago, but it will make some changes the Magic already has.

The most notable change is the addition of the French Quarter Lounge.  This bar will go along nicely with the already-existing Tiana's Place restaurant.  It is to be themed after The Princess and the Frog, just like the restaurant.  It's supposed to emulate being outside in New Orleans, except, you know, it's inside.  It's interesting how this will be added right before the Wonder is scheduled to go to New Orleans.

Another change is to the adult areas, specifically the Cove Café and Signals, the Quiet Cove bar.  Being a kid, I don't really care about these changes, but I'll cover them for the adults out there.  The Café will be redecorated to look like a local coffee shop with a relaxed atmosphere.  Signals will be themed similarly.  I'm think the Café might be changed to look like the Magic's version, which was recently updated.

Also, Vibe will be changed.  It is currently themed like an urban rec room, with brick walls and comfortable furniture.  The article describes it to be like the Magic's Vibe, themed with industrial metal and concrete.  It's much more modern looking than the previous version, and I think the newer design is more suiting for teens.  Also, the article says that virtual reality will be added to Vibe, which sounds fun and interesting.

While this isn't confirmed, I'm hoping Disney finally adds Pinocchio's Pool, I spent my whole last cruise looking for it but I couldn't find it.

Where is it? Come on Disney, please fix this sign.

These changes will be onboard the Wonder starting on September 30th.  For more information, read the Disney Parks Blog post linked at the top of the page..

New Fall 2020 Itineraries

Today is the day that Gold Castaway Club members (like me) can start booking the new itineraries that were recently announced.  They've been out for a little while now and I thought today would be a good day to finally investigate.  Overall, there weren't that many surprises, the Wonder will be on the West Coast, and the Magic will be doing the usual New York and Canada cruises.  However, the Fantasy will be doing shorter cruises during most of October.  These short cruises are usually done by the Dream, unless...

I think it's time to put on the speculation spectacles.

Since the Fantasy is taking over the Dream's typical cruises, this probably means that the Dream is going into dry dock!  Or maybe Mickey Mouse rented the ship to have a really long party.

Okay, let's just assume the dry dock is what will happen.  I don't think anything major will be done, but maybe some small things to make the Dream more similar to the Fantasy.  The Fantasy's Oceaneer Club has a Marvel themed area and a Star Wars themed area.  The Dream has a Star Wars area, but not one for Marvel.  Instead, it has a room themed after the (now discontinued) video game Disney Infinity.  I'm almost certain the Infinity room will be changed to a Marvel room.  While Disney Infinity is a fun game, I think Marvel will appeal to more people.  The Infinity room is basically an advertisement, and now that the game isn't sold anymore, it's pointless.  That's kind of like if DCL said they had straws on the pool deck when they actually don't.  Thanos can snap that room out of existence.

Another possible change could be in the Vista Gallery.  The Fantasy's Vista Gallery was moved to Deck 2 and was replaced by the Tiffany & Co. store.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Dream got this e̶x̶p̶a̶n̶s̶i̶v̶e̶ expensive addition.

Also, the ships have all added extra shade to the pool deck.  The shaded areas are already on the Dream, but more might be added.  More would be nice, knowing how crowded the pool deck can get.

Those are the obvious changes I thought of, and I'd like to hear what you think.  What do you want on the Dream?  What is your dream Dream?

Somewhat Special Announcement!

I was messing around with my blog settings, and now you can comment anonymously.  I'm not sure why this wasn't automatically allowed or why I hadn't found it until now, but hey, it works!  I'm hoping this will be good for those who want to comment but don't want to reveal their identity.  It'll also probably be good for my younger brother to annoy me with random comments (please don't).  To comment anonymously, go to the comment section and click the box next to where it says 'Comment as:' and select anonymous.

Complaining About the New DCL App

The other day, I noticed an update for the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app, and being the DCLKid, I downloaded it immediately.  The update's patch notes looked promising:

I was surprised to see that the app got this many new features.  However, it was too good to be true.  I imagined it to be like the reservation pages on the Disney Cruise Line website, where you can see information regarding your upcoming cruise.  It is, but there's a catch.

Upon opening the app, it shows some new information screens:

'This is interesting!' I thought.  Everything was fine until I got to the last screen.  Where'd the countdown go?  I need to log in?  To log in, you need a Disney account.  If you don't have one, the app is useless.

Great.  I created a Disney account and logged in.

Awesome, I just created an absolutely useless account!  My upcoming cruise is saved to my parents' account, so my account is pointless.

This new version gave me so many questions.  Why can't there just be a countdown on the main, logged-out screen?  Will you have to be logged in while you're on a cruise for the app to work?  They don't hand out paper Navigators anymore.  If you do have to be logged in, will your account have to have a paid room to work?  What about kids?  Their parents pay for the cruise.  Can you log in with the same account on multiple apps?  Will you have to log in every single time you open the app?

And here's the biggest question:
WHY DO I STILL HAVE THIS APP ON MY PHONE?

Actually, I'll keep it around to see if Disney's app developers decide to improve the app.  I hope they fix it before my cruise.  I don't even know how many days there are until it because of the app 'improvements'.

I'm sure many people will find this new version very useful, convenient, and simple.  But for others, the app just screams, "Delete me!"

If you haven't updated and don't want to deal with the annoying new app, be sure to not update.  Enjoy the countdown while you still can!

I've Gotta Hand it to Them...

I am so glad I took this picture.

I'm not really sure why there's a big gap here, just blame the Blogger website.

When I was on the Wonder in January, I saw this strange inflatable glove on the pool deck stage.  This picture was taken late at night, when the pools were closed and not many people were around.  At the time I had no idea of what this glove was for, but I figured it out!

It turns out that this glove is used for the Wonder's new sail away party, Mickey's Sail-A-Wave Party.  This new deck party replaced the older Adventures Away party a few weeks after the cruise I was on.  But why was the glove on deck?  My theory is that the performers were using it to practice the show before it officially started.  Night was the only time that the pool deck wasn't crowded, so it would be the best time to rehearse.

Here is a great video I found of the new party.  According to the poster's comments, the passengers on this cruise got to see the Magic!  That would have been really cool to see.  Interestingly, the glove shoots steam!  The crew might have been testing the glove's steam-shooting mechanics and making sure they worked right.  I regret not sticking around the pool deck and seeing if the glove did anything, but if I had known that it was for a new deck party, I definitely would have stayed.

I won't have to wait longer for more information about this deck party because my grandparents will be going on the Wonder in less than two weeks!

I still have to wait 321 days for my next one though...

Another Wonderful Cruise

Older fans of this blog will remember when I was on the Wonder in 2018.  I was on the Wonder again last week, and it was another amazing trip.  Lucky for you, I didn't forget to take photos!  I took a lot more pictures than last year, including photos of random things only I would notice.  Enjoy!

My whole family thought that the newest version of the app was a big improvement on the ship compared to the older one.  You could mark activities as your favorites, and it would send a notification reminder fifteen minutes before it started.  These notifications told you where and when the event started, in case you forget.  Dinners are set to favorite by default, which was extremely helpful for my family and I.

Okay, enough about the app.  Let's start at the beginning of the trip.  Like the last cruise, the ship left from San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It was nice to see that the people there have been recovering from the hurricanes, and tourism really benefits them.  

The Wonder was in the same terminal as last year, but the boarding structure was fixed and functional again.  Last year, we had to board the ship from the ground.  

This is a photo of a forklift lifting something off the pier and into the Wonder, taken right before we got on the ship.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by the cheerful cast members and the pretty red atrium chandelier.

If you were to try to recreate this photo on the Magic, you might get a little soaked.  The Magic's forward funnel is home to the AquaDunk slide.  This picture is one of my favorites, so I tried editing it.

This is the result.  It's amazing what you can do with a basic mobile editing software!  Here are more photos of the funnels.

I have no idea what this tall white thing is called, but it does look pretty cool in a picture.

This pool is the crew pool, and this is the only time I've ever seen people in it.

So does this mean I should call the police?

Never mind.

Before we left San Juan, I saw this small pilot boat next to the ship.  A pilot comes onto the Wonder to help get it out of port, and the pilot boat follows.  After the ship is out of the port, the pilot boat picks up the pilot.  The pilot uses a ladder to get back on the pilot boat.  This is the same for going into port.  The pilot is dropped off on the cruise ship, pilot boat follows, ship arrives in port, pilot leaves.  A while back, the Dream collided with a pier, and this was probably a pilot's fault.

This is El Morro. It is an old fort in San Juan.

This picture almost looks fake, but it's real, I promise.  This is the amazing sunset as the ship was leaving San Juan.

This directory drove me crazy.  Something's not right.  Since when did Pinocchio have a pool?  It's Pinocchio's Pizzeria, not Pinocchio's Pool!  This is updated from the dry dock, since it has the newer names of locations around the ship.  Also, the map at the top says Pinocchio's Pizzeria!  Like I said earlier, this is something only I notice.  Most people probably don't care.

Another thing I noticed were the locations on the stateroom phones.  The phone says Vista Spa on it, but the Vista Spa no longer exists.  It was turned into the Senses Spa during the 2016 dry dock.  I understand why it has outdated places on it, why replace hundreds of phones just because of a few words?  It would be a waste of time and money.

I also noticed something on the final night's dessert menu.  The background shows a map of the Bahamas and other islands, but I noticed a special one.  If you look right under where the menu says esserts, you can see Eleuthera Island.  Disney is in the process of purchasing part of Eleuthera as a second island.  Does this dessert menu confirm it?  Looking back, I totally should've ordered an island for dessert that night.

While I'm talking about dessert, this chocolate lava cake was delicious.

Here are some photos from Tiana's Place, the great restaurant with live music.

Here are some photos of Triton's, the least exciting restaurant, in my opinion.

Triton's is themed after The Little Mermaid, so it's fitting that the lights are Sebastian the crab.

Behind the fancy doors into Triton's, there are big metal doors.  They block your view into the restaurant because Disney doesn't want people finding out how they clean the restaurants so fast.  Finally, here are some from my favorite main restaurant on board, Animator's Palate.

I realized that I didn't get many from inside the restaurants, but I have a reasonable excuse:  I was hungry, and food is way more important than photos.

 Elevators make me happy, they really lift my spirits.

I don't usually do this, but I went to the bars on this cruise.  These lights are my favorite part of the whole After Hours area.

 The top photo is the original, the bottom one is edited.  The edited one is definitely my favorite picture from the whole trip.

This telephone booth is outside of the Crown & Fin Pub.  There are stickers inside with the British flag, Disney Cruise Line logo, Crown & Fin logo, and the Wonder's logo.

Back on the pool deck, there's a strange shop, Quacks.  Quacks is a big column that is in two sections.  It slides open and sells pool essentials, like sunscreen.  Throughout previous cruises on the Dream and Fantasy, it was open.  However, on this cruise, it was always closed.  My only guess for this is because it wasn't making much money when it was open on other cruises.  It must have been pointless keeping a shop attendant in Quacks all day, when barely anyone bought anything.  I'm assuming that Quacks will be taken out during the next dry dock.

The funniest thing I found in the shops onboard had to be these Infinity Mugs.

Have you ever been out by the pools at 11:00 at night?  You might see this!  Since the pools are always busy during the day, night is the only time to clean the deck.

This is an edited photo of the Twist 'n' spout slide at sunset.  

These are my attempts of getting pictures of the AquaLab at night.

That's one snazzy duck.

This is the handwashing station at Cabanas.  This is only on the Wonder, the other ships just have a server passing out sanitizing wipes.  These sinks aren't nearly as efficient as hand wipes.  During busy times, long lines often build up.  I don't mind the line, because Cabanas is a buffet where people use public utensils to pick up food.  I wouldn't want to touch something after someone with really dirty hands touched it.

Somehow, I didn't notice this cool plaque near the Quiet Cove last year.

In addition to my ship pictures, I took some cool pictures of the ports we visited.

St. Kitts is a cool place.  We went on a kayaking excursion, and surprisingly, I didn't make the kayak flip over!

Curacao was also very exciting.  Willemstad, the city where we docked, has many colorful buildings.  It was only a few minutes away from the ship, and I highly recommend walking around the town.

In Aruba, we docked farther from Oranjestad, the town, than last year.  To get to Oranjestad easier, there was a free Aru-bus (say it out loud) to and from the town.  My family and I went to Eagle Beach, a beautiful beach that isn't far from the ship.

 The ship docked between a sandbar and the island.  On that sandbar, there is a bush.  Since it constantly gets soaked from the seawater, it would be hard for a plant to survive.  We asked some locals, and they said it's real!  They said it is very old, from when the island used to go that far out into the ocean.  The sand washed away, but that plant somehow survived.  If that one survived, why didn't others?

 I love Caribbean islands, the mountains on them are really pretty.

Back in San Juan, these are my final photos of the ship before we left.  I hope you liked my photos as much as I liked taking them.  My next cruise will be a Star Wars Day at Sea cruise on the Fantasy next January, and I'm so excited for it.  It's a bigger ship, and that means more pictures!